During his recent visit to the United States of America, the president of the Republic of Serbia, Boris Tadic signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which regulates the rights and obligations of American military personnel in Serbian territory.
The contents of the agreement remain unknown to the public.
To us, the following questions remain:
- Does this agreement prevent Serbia from extraditing American citizens to The International Criminal Court?
- Which rights did Serbia renounce in this agreement?
- What are the contents and justification of the agreement?
- Why hasn't the entire text of the agreement been made public?
President Tadic signed the aforementioned agreement with the support of the Serbian government, illustrating that both the government and the premier are highly-placed hypocrites.
If they can so easily renounced state sovereignty over national territory in order to support the armed forces of the world’s most powerful country, why do they insist on national sovereignty and territorial integrity in discussions about the future status of Kosovo, which has been de facto disconnected from Serbia since 1999? Why is that not announced to the public? Instead, they place the guilt for ‘surrendering Kosovo’ exclusively on those nongovernmental organizations that demand a radical break from the criminal past (including, of course, Women in Black).
We value human rights, especially women’s human rights, and individuals’ quality of life above state sovereignty and human security above state sovereignty and territorial integrity. One of the most important conditions for the respect of human security is the extradition of everyone suspected of the war crimes committed in our name.
If this agreement means that American citizens suspected of breaking the laws of war and committing crimes against humanity will not be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, then it is not only morally inadmissible (which Women in Black - Serbia has pointed out numerous times since December 2003), but it is politically senseless; European Union member states have refused to sign such bilateral agreements with the US and expect the potential candidates for membership to act similarly.
If in the motivation for signing this agreement is the Serbian government’s hope that this will win the favor of the world’s biggest military force and allow Serbia to evade its obligation to extradite Ratko Mladic and other suspected war criminals, then it is a sad reflection of the still-unexposed political tricks based on the absence of elementary political and social intelligence that the Serbian government favors.
In every case, we expect President Tadic to explain controversial issues. We expect the government to make public the entire text of the agreement.
Belgrade, September 12, 2006
Women in Black - Belgrade
The Women in Black Network - Serbia from Vrbas, Bor, Nis and Novi Pazar; ZAR, Kikinda; Esperanca, Novi Sad; React!, Zrenjanin; Taboo, Zrenjanin; Neda, Zajecar; Women for Peace, Pirot; Women’s Center, Leskovac; SOS Telephone, Vlasotince; Fenomena, Kraljevo; Peščanik, Kruševac; Impuls, Tutin; Urban In, Novi Pazar; Bona Fide, Pljevlja; Incest Trauma Center, Belgrade; and The Autonomous Women’s Center, Belgrade.
